


The Silver Fox - The Gossip

by sagely_sea



Series: The Silver Fox [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fox!Shiro, M/M, Mutual Pining, Post Season 7, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-22
Updated: 2018-10-22
Packaged: 2019-08-06 04:18:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16381244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sagely_sea/pseuds/sagely_sea
Summary: The other paladins think that Keith and Shiro are dating because of all the gossip going around and are hurt that they weren't told first. Keith tries to convince them it's not true and then runs off and ends up on the bridge with Shiro where he gets to admire Atlas and his captain.





	The Silver Fox - The Gossip

“Oh look who finally emerged,” Lance said as Keith walked into the lounge on Atlas that the Voltron team had taken over as theirs. It wasn’t quite the same as the one in the Castle they had favoured but it was somewhere they could relax and not have to worry about Garrison protocol or people eavesdropping. 

Which was good in Keith’s opinion since it meant nobody was around to repeat whatever stupid thing Lance was probably going to start saying. 

“I saw you yesterday,” Keith said. And he wasn’t even late to their informal post breakfast meeting either. So he really had no idea what Lance was on about. 

“Yeah. But you didn’t see us in the evening…” Lance made the words hang there as if Keith was supposed to get something from them. He just stared blankly. 

“Really? You’re gonna play dumb on us. I’m hurt. Haven’t we been through so much together.” 

Keith was still clueless so he looked over at Hunk and Pidge who usually made more sense. 

“I’m with Lance. I mean… it’s not like we didn’t know. But it still would have been nice to hear it from you instead of having to see you two sneak around,” Hunk said 

“Hunk’s right. The Garrison has been gossiping about it for weeks now and it’s clear it’s been going on even longer than that. I thought the team was made up on trust and openess,” Pidge said as she set aside the gadget she was toying with to level Keith with a look. 

“I still have no idea what you’re all talking about.” He ran a hand through his hair and thought about what Shiro would do in this situation. His first instinct was to just glare at them or leave until they decided to make sense but he was their leader and that meant having patience and figuring out what they meant. “But if I did something that hurt you then I’m sorry.” There, Shiro would be proud. He took responsibility and was working to make it better. 

They shared looks with each other and Keith frowned at the fact that they didn’t seem to be accepting his apology and moving on.

“You seriously have no idea what we’re talking about do you?” Pidge asked. 

“If you want me to figure this out, you’re going to have to tell me. Or at least give me a hint.” He was a great pilot and a good fighter but mind reading wasn’t some super skill he possessed. 

“Huh? You don’t know? How can he not know?” Hunk asked turning to Lance and Pidge. 

Keith huffed out a breath and crossed his arms. It’d been a while since the other paladins had annoyed him this much so the were probably overdue. 

“You and Shiro?” Lance said. “You know…”

Keith blinked. Him and Shiro didn’t really narrow it down much. They were close friends who worked together and spent a lot of their free time together. “And?” 

“You guys haven’t exactly been subtle,” Pidge piped in. 

Keith had a moment of worry that somehow they had found out about Shiro’s fox condition. But he figured they’d be approaching Shiro and not him. And really, he would sort of be on their side. Shiro had no reason not to trust the other paladins. Even if they did sort of suck at keeping their mouths shut, they could normally be trusted to keep a secret. 

“Subtle about what?”

“That you two have finally got together, what else would it be?” Hunk asked. 

Keith stared at them dumbfoundedly but before he could open his mouth to say anything Coran walked in. “Who got together?” 

“Shiro and Keith,” Lance said. 

“Really? I thought they were already together. At first I thought they were married and you humans just had strange traditions about not sleeping together. But then Allura and I decided that you must just be engaged. Some species won’t even hold hands until after they’re properly bonded.” 

They were all staring at Coran and Keith wasn’t the only one who made an uncomfortable choking noise. Though he suspected Lance was trying to keep from laughing and wasn’t feeling the morbid embarrassment that Keith was. 

“What? Why would you even think that?” Keith finally got out after a few false starts. 

“You two are always making eyes at each other. And the way you chased after him even if all the evidence said he was gone. Allura and I only agreed because we thought you were a couple.”

Coran said it so matter of factly that it was hard to be angry at him. The Alteans had their own way of doing things and they didn’t exactly get humans at first. Though he did hate that apparently Allura and Coran were talking about him and Shiro. 

“It’s not like that…” Keith said. Though the words sounded false and flat even to his own ears. 

“Well maybe you weren’t together when we started out as Voltron. But it was clear to everyone that you had a bond with him. And it’s only grown since then. We’re happy that you two finally got together. But there’s no reason to hide it from us,” Pidge said giving him a reassuring smile. 

“Yeah. Especially when all of the Garrison is talking about it. Something like how the lone wolf tamed the silver fox. It’s lame. Clearly Allura and I should be the Garrison’s power couple. We’re way better looking,” Lance stopped rambling to give what Keith assumed was his version of a charming smile. It sort of made Keith think of those weird lion dinosaur type aliens they encountered once that tried to look cute but were really just horrifying. And if you actually did buy the friendly smile they’d let you get close enough just so they could eat you. Definitely not a good look. Shiro was a hundred times more charming without even trying. 

“The lone wolf? That’s not even original,” Keith said. He was not going to even acknowledge the rest of it. 

“The lone space wolf I think. Blame Kosmo. He’s cute and everyone loves him. Even if he does drool. You know, maybe he needs to see the doggy dentist,” Hunk said. 

“That’s not any better. And Kosmo is fine just the way he is.” Sure he didn’t like waking up with drool all over but Kosmo was happy and healthy and that’s what mattered. If others didn’t want to put up with a little drool than they weren’t worth of Kosmo’s time. 

“I see you aren’t arguing the silver fox,” Pidge said. 

Keith just shrugged. He had eyes. There was no point in arguing that the name didn’t fit. “He was the Garrison’s poster boy for recruitment for more than one reason,” Keith said. He may not have seen the appeal when he first met Shiro, before puberty came storming in, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t acknowledge that he was a good looking guy. Add in the flight records, people skills and just desire to see people do well and the Garrison really couldn’t have asked for a better recruiter. 

“And now he’s the handsome leader of Atlas and spokesman for the Garrison which is basically leading the coalition right now,” Lance said. “He has groupies.”

“Groupies?” Keith repeated. He knew that people admired Shiro as some hero, Lance used to be one of them, but he couldn’t imagine people just being Shiro’s fan like he was a rock star. 

“You have groupies, too,” Pidge added on. 

“Oh yes. I’ve stumbled onto the message boards when I was being shown your information networks. People can be quite creative.”

“Creative?” Keith asked. He’d never had time for message boards or social sites. He was focused on flying and time with Shiro when he was a cadet. Besides, he knew if there was anything about him on there, it wouldn’t be nice. And now that he was back on Earth, he hadn’t even thought about going back to look at what was being written. After years in space fighting a universal war, what other people thought of him just wasn’t a priority. 

Maybe he should have been a bit more curious. He was the leader of Voltron. Knowing what people were thinking could help them problem solve better. 

“Yeah. Especially when it comes to you and Shiro. Not that I looked. I mean, I looked a little. Because you guys are my friends and I was curious. Not about it that way. But I wanted to make sure nobody was plotting anything against you two. You’ve been through so much. You two deserve your time together,” Hunk explained, seemingly becoming more red as he explained himself. 

A part of Keith thought it was sweet that Hunk would want to look out for them digitally. But mostly he was just horrified that he had groupies. And that he and Shiro together had groupies. “Uh… thanks, I guess. But we’re not like that.” 

“You’re going to break a lot of hearts if you announce that publicly,” Pidge warned. “Besides, most of the people are supportive. They think it’s romantic or something.” She gave an unconcerned shrug. 

“And it’s not like you guys need to keep it a secret. The Garrison will be cool with it. I know they frown against cadet and officer relationships but you dropped out and now you’re Voltron. Which is outside of the normal ranks anyway,” Lance said. 

That was true. The Garrison wouldn’t have any reason to object over him and Shiro being together. And he stopped what he was thinking. These were things he and Shiro should be talking about if they decided to move things that way. And Keith still wasn’t sure that this extra awareness and stiltedness that crept up between them was actually mutual or just on his side. 

“That’s great. But we’re still not dating. I’ve just been helping him with things.” 

“Things? Is that what we’re calling it now.” The words were infused with so much innuendo that even Keith couldn’t miss the implications even if he wished he could. 

“No. That’s not what we’re calling it. Look. Just tell me if there’s anything I need to be worried about with these groupies or whatever they are?” If they were just gossiping online that was fine. But if they were going to pose a risk to Shiro then he’d have to figure out a way to convince Shiro to maybe take some security with him when he was outside of Atlas. 

Keith was sure that inside of Atlas that the ship wouldn’t let anything happen to Shiro. Atlas didn’t seem to be sentient the same way that he lions were but Shiro explained that Atlas was growing and learning and that they shared a bond. And the strength of the feelings and words that Atlas had blasted into him when Shiro called out to him seemed to prove Shiro’s theory. 

“Spoilsport,” Lance muttered and huffed dramatically. He’d gotten better at his weird drama moments but they still cropped up and Keith was quickly losing patience with them today. 

“I don’t think anyone on the message boards are going to cause you trouble. And even the cadets in the Garrison have too much respect for Shiro, and I suppose you, to do anything more than gossip and makes eyes. Are you sure you haven’t noticed anything?” 

Keith relaxed at hearing that there wasn’t likely to be a threat from these so called groupies and then nodded at Pidge’s question. “A little bit about Shiro. But we’ve been busy. I don’t know how you guys have time for all of this.” 

“Probably because we don’t spend hours locked away in Shiro’s room.”

Keith sent a glare at Hunk for saying that. 

“Hey, just calling it how it is. But if you say you’re in there doing work, then that’s what you’re doing. Just remember, we’re here for you when you’re ready to share the big news.” 

Hunk was so sincere it was hard to be angry with him. But they were all still being ridiculous. He glanced up at the clock on the wall and was thankful to have an excuse to leave. “Fine. I need to go. I’ll see you all at training later.” He gave them a nod before heading off, dutifully ignoring Coran’s bewilderment at him and Shiro not being engaged. 

He really needed to ask Krolia to come up with more training programs for them to run through if everyone had enough time to read message boards and indulge in Garrison gossip like that. 

 

-0-0-0-0-

Keith left the quartermaster after his final fitting for his new uniform and felt much better than when he had wandered in. He’d had time to center himself and not think about him and Shiro being a couple or engaged. He also had to admit that the new uniforms were going to look amazing once they were ready to be worn.

It probably didn’t make a lot of sense for Allura, Lance, Shiro, and himself to wear colours that no longer matched the lions they were flying. But it felt right to keep the red and Lance said that although he loved flying with Red, that Blue was what led him to all of this and he wanted to honour her. It may seem strange to outsiders but their colours worked for them. They knew what lions they flew. 

Besides, Keith knew that Shiro still felt connected to Black, even if he insisted he was working on building a connection with Atlas instead. Black had saved him from permanently dying and they’d lived as one on the astral plane for long enough that Keith was sure that Shiro would never fully be separated from Black no matter who piloted her. Or who Shiro piloted instead. 

Keith also liked honouring Shiro’s position as leader of Voltron even if that role was mostly his. But only when they were flying. Out of the ship, and especially back among the Garrison, they seemed to be deferring to Shiro more and more. Even Allura seemed content to advise more than command as she had when they’d first met in the Castle of Lions. 

Somehow, his thoughts of Shiro led him to the bridge and he gave a small smile when he saw Shiro issuing orders to the crew around him. 

After being on the near empty Castle of Lions for so long and then working as a Blade, it was still weird to be surrounded by so many people who were able to help with the work but it was more or less a nice change. It certainly beat having to maintain all of the Castle repairs on their own. Coran might have enjoyed the challenge but Keith was sure he was happy to have more time to focus on other things needed for the coalition to win this war. 

Making sure that his face was suitably neutral, Keith stepped further into the room and caught Shiro’s attention. He gave him a quick nod before returning to his orders. Keith was content to just watch Shiro and his crew work so he found an out of the way spot and leaned back against the wall. Atlas was a beautiful amalgamation of Altean and Earth technology and Keith realized he hadn’t spent nearly enough time on the bridge to appreciate it. 

He also enjoyed watching Shiro in his element. He was a strong and capable leader and it showed with how willing his crew was to listen to him. And how willing Shiro was to liste and learn from the experts he had surrounding him on the bridge. It was a rare leader who could admit that he wasn’t an expert on everything. It wasn’t hard to see why people were interested in the Atlas Captain. 

Though that interest did make Keith want to publicly claim Shiro and make sure everyone knew he was off limits. But despite what the others thought, they weren’t dating and he didn’t have the right to do that. Besides, he may think that being a power couple with Shiro wasn’t such a bad thing but he didn’t want his personal life being blasted about the universe in news articles and gossip sites. But maybe he’d be okay with it if it meant nobody would be dumb enough to approach Shiro. He vaguely wondered if unreasonable possessiveness was a Galra trait or just a Keith trait. Not that he was going to ask Kolivan or Krolia about that. 

He pushed off the wall and decided that just watching was giving his thoughts way too much time to wander. He did not need to think crazy possessive thoughts when ten feet away from Shiro and surrounded by his crew. 

Clearly sensing his movement, Shiro decided in that moment to turn to him and gave him a big smile before waving him over. “Keith, you haven’t had the chance to see how Atlas runs yet, have you?” He asked. 

Keith’s heart definitely skipped a beat but he pushed down inappropriate thoughts and instead returned Shiro’s infectious smile with a small one of his own and walked over to him. “Not yet. You going to fix that?” 

“I have to convince you that speed isn’t everything. I’m not going to be able to do that if you don’t see just how amazing Atlas is,” Shiro said and moved over so that Keith could move up beside him. 

From this vantage point, Keith could see rest of the bridge and the crew working hard at their tasks. The windows and view screens also gave him an amazing view. And then with all of the screens telling them everything they needed to know in front of him it really did feel like a powerful position to be in. 

As Shiro started explaining the controls and the information going across the screen, Keith forgot about his inappropriate thoughts and just absorbed what Shiro was teaching him. Atlas might be larger and slower than his preferred mode of flight but Keith still loved ships, space travel and even weird alien technology. He wasn’t on Pidge’s or even Hunk’s level but he held his own pretty well as just a pilot. 

“This is amazing, Shiro. Atlas seems pretty attuned to those using him, too,” Keith said. He had noted that while most screens were running in the Garrison standard of English, Coran’s was clearly Altean. 

“Atlas is learning more every day. It’s why I want to run more training exercises. I was thinking of talking to Krolia about it. She had a lot of good ideas for Voltron so I’m hoping she could come up with some for us.” 

Keith’s eyes softened and he nodded. He liked that Shiro and Krolia got along and that neither felt threatened or annoyed by the closeness they each shared with him. He would have been devastated if two of the most important people in his life didn’t get along. 

“I’m sure she’d like that. I was thinking of asking her for more Voltron ones. So maybe she’ll think up some joint challenges.” He had wanted more so he could keep the other paladins busy and out of his person life but Shiro didn’t need to know that. 

It didn’t matter that it also included Shiro’s personal life. Shiro had enough going on that he didn’t need to worry about the gossip, too. Besides, in this case, ignorance was bliss. Not everything had to be about knowledge or death. 

“I’m having lunch with her today if you want to join in,” Keith offered. 

“That would be great. I have a meeting at twelve. So a late lunch?” Shiro asked. 

“No problem. I’ll see you then. Just comm me when you’re free.” 

“I will. Thanks for stopping by Keith. You’re welcome on the bridge whenever you want.” 

“Good to know,” Keith said. And it was only then that he noticed that the crew were giving them not so subtle looks from time to time. 

Definitely time to leave before even the professional officers around them decided to ask if they were dating. “I have training with Kolivan and the others so I’m going to head out.” 

“Okay. Remind Lance to keep working on his swordsmanship. Being a sniper won’t help him in close quarters.” 

“Of course. Like I’d let him get away with that.” 

“Just making sure,” Shiro said and gave a small chuckle. 

“If you’re worried about our training you can always join in,” Keith said. The others would love having Shiro around for in person training like that. 

“I can’t today. But we can check our schedules at lunch.”

“Got it.” He lingered a moment too long, caught in Shiro’s eyes before finally breaking himself away and turning to leave. 

“Alright gang, back to work.” He heard Shiro say right before the door shut behind him. 

Keith really hoped that his mother focused on training at lunch time and didn’t bring up anything embarrassing. She hadn’t yet. But with the way his day had been going, he wouldn’t be surprised if she broke out a space whale story that Keith did not want shared or started talking about some shared memory that Keith also probably didn’t want shared.

He’d have to risk it. He’d already told Shiro about lunch and they really could do with some of Krolia’s twisted training programs.

**Author's Note:**

> This collection of stories are turning into more of a slow burn than I expected since I just wanted Shiro to have a big fluffy tail and watch Keith pet it. It is giving me a chance to explore how to write the characters and the world of Voltron though.... but hopefully, we can move from pre-relationship to relationship in the next part. 
> 
> As always, thank you for reading and please feel free to give a kudos or a comment. I'm still new to Voltron fandom so I won't say no to a bit of an ego boost.


End file.
